It is my great pleasure to attend the welcome reception for incoming Chair Robert McDonald and new USCBC officers and directors.

Mr. McDonald, congratulations on your new leadership role, and we look forward to working closely with you and wish you all the best.

I also want to commend Mr. Muhtar Kent for his stewardship and outstanding performance as the Chair of USCBC in the past two years.

Over four decades, USCBC has taken a leading role in promoting the commercial ties and constructive engagement between China and the United States. We greatly appreciate all your kind efforts and contribution.

Three things can be said about the business relationship between China and the United States.

First, there perhaps has never been such a large scale business relationship that grows as fast as the China-US business relationship.

Second, the close commercial ties between our two countries are mutually beneficial in nature, and have brought tangible benefits to the people of both countries.

Third, the business relationship has become an important pillar in the overall bilateral ralationship which is now one of the most important and dynamic relationships in the world.

As the largest developing country and the largest developed country in the world, there is great scope and potential for enhancing business relationship between China and the United States. I see enormous opportunities for cooperation in such areas as expanding mutual trade and investment, promoting world economic recovery and international financial stability and responding to many of the global and regional challenges.

Like any other economic relationships in the world, China-US economic relationship has never been perfect without problems or disputes. Economic problems should not be politicized and should be addressed as economic problems through dialogue and consultations.

At the 4th round of the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue held in Beijing last month, the two sides had open and in-depth discussions on broad economic policies and specific commercial issues. The S&ED's Economic Track alone produced 67 deliverables that are important to both countries, which fully demontrate the value of the mechanism. Both sides emphasized the need to use such high-level institutionalized mechanisms to promote mutual strategic trust as well as economic cooperation.

It is particularly worth noting that the two sides discussed the subject of how to build a new type of relationship between China and the United States, and both sides agreed that cooperation should be the defining characteristic of China-US relations. The relationship between China and the United States is not, and should not be a zero-sum game relationship. There is every reason to believe that if we manage our differences well, China and the United States can establish a new model of relationship under which two big countries can coexist peacefully and develop together.

A strong China-US relationship requires collaborative efforts from governments, business communities, and other stakeholders in both countries. I am confident that with the leadership of Mr. McDonald, USCBC will make more contributions to promoting this important bilateral relationship.

Thank you all very much.

Ambassador Zhang Yesui with Chairman Robert McDonald, President John Frisbie and Under Secretary of State Robert Hormats